Legal guilt or innocence rests with the judge, but no verdict will change what most know they saw on television again and again.
That police officer’s kick to the head of a handcuffed woman outside Twin Rivers was
brutal, it was revolting and it violates every trust citizens place in those they employ to enforce the law.
By now everyone knows the story and prefers not to see the footage again.
A woman had behaved badly, was cuffed and was escorted out to the parking lot. Hands behind her, seated on the curb, she attempted a feeble, off-balance, barefoot kick at the officer standing next to her.
His response — a swift, violent kick to her head. Police say she never lost consciousness. That limp, unresponsive form in the video suggests otherwise.
Had a camera not caught it all, none of this would have come to light — the kick, in fact, was never mentioned in the initial police report. She might have claimed brutality but where would that have gotten her?
Nearly as stunning as the kick was the nonchalance with which it was delivered — scarcely a glance and then back to the notepad, business as usual.
That an officer could testify under oath that the kick he saw was justified ought to make anyone wonder about training (and what other shameful moments we have missed). Police, we are told, are taught to remain calm in the face of provocation, no matter how drunk or obnoxious the delivery. To their credit, other officers testified that what the tape shows is indeed excessive. We hope and suspect that most of their colleagues agree.
His attorney claimed that the officer acted in self defense and that the reaction was instinctive, the sort anyone might make when attacked. But he never backed away, and why should he? What conceivable threat did he face?
We ask our police to put up with plenty but we give them extraordinary powers. In return we expect them to adhere to a higher standard.
Police work is the wrong career choice for bullies with short fuses.
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